The study aimed to document and assess local knowledge on the use of insecticidal and insect repellent plants to manage disease-transmitting, nuisance and crop pests in Raya-Azebo district of Tigray region of Ethiopia. Ethnobotanical data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with purposively selected informants. Simple preference ranking exercises were conducted by ten informants to identify the most important insect repellent plants in the district. Samples of reported plants were collected, identified and deposited at the National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University.

A Bill to regulate the import, manufacture, export, storage, sale, transport, distribution, quality and use of pesticides with a view to— control pests; ensure availability of quality pesticides; allow its use only after assessing its efficacy and safety; minimize the contamination of agricultural commodities by pesticide residues; create awar

A combination of indoor spraying and use of insecticide-treated bed nets has slashed cases of malaria, but now researchers are reporting widespread resistance of mosquitoes to the chemicals used to kill them. Agricultural pesticides appear to be playing a role in fostering this resistance.

In Africa, a combination of better medicines and the widespread use of insecticides to kill mosquitoes has led to the decline in malaria cases and deaths. Millions of people in places like Dano are living longer, healthier lives because of this public health campaign. They are also more prosperous when they are malaria free, because the disease keeps kids home from school, prevents adults from working, and forces poor families to spend money on health care.

The prevailing paradigm of host-parasite evolution is that arms races lead to increasing specialisation via genetic adaptation. Insect herbivores are no exception and the majority have evolved to colonise a small number of closely related host species. Remarkably, the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, colonises plant species across 40 families and single M. persicae clonal lineages can colonise distantly related plants. This remarkable ability makes M. persicae a highly destructive pest of many important crop species.

In an age of free international shipments of mail-ordered seeds and plants, more policing will not stop the global migration of hitchhiking pests. The solution is in a preemptive response based on an internationally coordinated genomic deployment of global biodiversity in the largest breeding project since the “Garden of Eden.” This plan will enrich the narrow genetic basis of annual and perennial plants with adaptations to changing environments and resistances to the pests of the future.